US wants to move Georgetown scholar’s deportation lawsuit to Texas. Judge appears skeptical

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This article was published 01/05/2025 (222 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Trump administration told a federal judge Thursday that a Georgetown University scholar’s lawsuit against deportation should be moved from Virginia, where it was filed, to Texas, where he’s jailed over allegations of “spreading Hamas propaganda.”

U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles seemed skeptical of the government’s request, which would involve her dismissing the case in Virginia. She raised concerns that a dismissal in her court would void her order in March to keep Badar Khan Suri in the U.S. while his First Amendment case plays out.

David Byerley, a Justice Department attorney, told Giles that he would need to talk to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement about the judge’s concern. Byerley said he didn’t see why ICE wouldn’t honor her order against deporting Khan Suri while the case is refiled in a Texas federal court.

“OK,” the judge said. “I’m not going to rely on that. But thank you.”

In a government filing before the hearing, U.S. attorneys argued that Khan Suri’s attorneys filed his suit in Virginia after he was already taken out of state. They said filing his case in Texas is “relatively straightforward application of well-settled law.”

The Trump administration said it quickly moved Khan Suri from a facility in Farmville, Virginia, because of overcrowding to a detention center in Louisiana and then Texas.

But the judge seemed skeptical of the government’s overcrowding claim. She asked the U.S. to provide details about the number of open beds in Farmville at the time of Khan Suri’s arrest as well as the number of people who’ve been transferred because of overcrowding.

Khan Suri’s attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union told the judge that once in Texas, Khan Suri slept on the floor of an overcrowded detention center for at the least the first few weeks. Khan Suri now has his own bed in a dormitory.

Khan Suri’s attorneys said the real reason he was moved to Texas was to bring the case before a more conservative judge. The attorney, Vishal Agraharkar, accused the government of what’s often called “forum shopping.”

Unlike the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, federal district courts in Texas and western Louisiana are dominated by Republican-appointed judges. Win or lose, appeals of such cases go to the reliably conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 5th Circuit is one of 13 federal appellate courts around the nation and has 17 full-time judges. Twelve were appointed by Republican presidents, including six by former President Donald Trump.

Agraharkar’s statements before the judge in Alexandria were echoed by another attorney for Khan Suri, Hassan Ahmad, outside the courtroom after Thursday’s hearing.

“There is a reason why the detention facilities exist there,” Ahmad said, adding, “This kind of rigged game has to stop.”

Ahmad was among a group of people who gathered at the courthouse to show support. They included Khan Suri’s wife, Georgetown students and faculty and U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents the northern Virginia district where Khan Suri lives.

Khan Suri’s lawsuit was filed shortly after masked, plain-clothed officers arrested him on March 17 outside his apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia.

His attorneys say he was unconstitutionally arrested and jailed because of his wife’s connection to Gaza. He and his wife, Mapheze Saleh, have been targeted because Saleh’s father worked with the Hamas-backed Gazan government for more than a decade but before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Khan Suri’s attorneys say.

The ACLU said in the memo that Khan Suri hardly knew the father, Ahmed Yousef.

According to the U.S. government, Khan Suri has undisputed family ties to the terrorist organization, which Khan Suri “euphemistically refers to as ‘the government of Gaza.’”

Khan Suri’s arrest also stems from his social media posts about the war in Gaza, in which he expressed support of Palestinian people. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on the social platform X that Khan Suri was accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media” and was determined to be deportable.

The ACLU has argued that arrests on such grounds violated his First Amendment rights.

Khan Suri, an Indian citizen, came to the U.S. in 2022 through a J-1 visa, working at Georgetown as a visiting scholar and postdoctoral fellow. He and Saleh have three children: a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old twins.

Before his arrest, he taught a course on majority and minority human rights in South Asia, according to court records. The filings said he hoped to become a professor and embark on a career in academia.

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Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.

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This story has been corrected to say that Khan Suri now has his own bed in a jail dormitory.